Othello: A Tragic Hero? Considered by some to be one of the finest tragedies ever written‚ Shakespeare’s Othello tells the story of one man’s fall from happiness to utter despair. This is achieved by Othello’s fatal flaws – his jealousy and pride. Othello’s own fatal flaws lead him to his demise not Iago’s manipulation. This view point is supported in Professor Crawford’s article “Othello as a Tragic Hero.” In his article‚ Crawford conveys the idea that the misfortunes that befall Othello are cause
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A Tragic Hero is a common figure in many of Shakespeare’s works. A Tragic Hero is usually a figure of royalty‚ fame or greatness. This person is predominately good‚ but falls from prominence due to personality flaws that eventually lead to self-destruction. Macbeth’s major flaws are his ambition and impressionability. Due to their flaws‚ a Tragic Hero’s actions are often atrocious and cause them to battle with their conscience after their desires have been accomplished. These battles with their conscience
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To what extent do you think Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero? The 17th century play‚ ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare‚ was written during a time when James the first became the first king of both Scotland and England. The characters in the play are also based upon his descendants. The play itself focuses on the character of Macbeth who is manipulated into committing regicide by 3 witches. As the play progresses‚ both him and his wife begin to lose all sense of morality‚ resulting with
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Hamlet truly the tragic hero in Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Tragic heroes were originally defined by Aristotle‚ and he created a list of traits that a tragic hero must have. These traits are hamartia‚ peripeteia‚ anagnorisis‚ and hubris. In Hamlet‚ Laertes fits all of these traits perfectly‚ even more so than Hamlet‚ making Laertes the true tragic hero. Hamartia is a hero’s flaw or error in judgement‚ and is the first of four traits required for a character to be categorized as a tragic hero. In Hamlet‚ Laertes
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culture certain people are cursed from birth. In ancient Greece‚ these people were known as tragic heroes. The stories of these tragic heroes are known as tragedies‚ some of the earliest known tragedies are Medea and Oedipus the King. As stated in The Vocabulary of Ancient Greek Tragedy in Modern English by Francis Blessington the Greeks believed‚ “a hero must explicitly accept his fate. But in Greek tragedy‚ the hero or heroine or the play itself questions fate” (Blessington). The greatest example of this
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The difference between being a tragic character and a tragic hero depends on the role of the main character in the play. In Death of a Salesman and Oedipus‚ the main characters undergo a tragedy at the end of the story when they overcome a self realization. The arrogance that is seen through the storyline of these plays‚ allows the two characters to relate to one another. Willy‚ the main character in the play Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller is an average man in the city that lies to
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Okonkwo is considered a tragic hero in the novel‚ Things Fall Apart. A tragic hero holds a rank of power and chooses his course of action‚ which tells what tragic flaw that happened. When a tragic hero is becoming bitter‚ he questions his courage. Okonkwo is a big man with a very bad childhood so he tries to be the opposite of what his dad was like‚ he is rich with in his clan. He provides for his family every chance he gets unlike his father. Okonkwo is a great warrior and a pretty good person who
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Hamlet as a Tragic Hero By‚ Kassidy Neudorf What is a tragic hero? Well‚ according to most critiques on the Internet‚ it is simply a “protagonist of a tragedy”. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet‚ Hamlet is the Tragic Hero. Most tragic heroes contain a tragic flaw‚ so what tragic flaw of Hamlet makes him the tragic hero of this story? It may be his lack of motivation to take action; in other words‚ procrastination. Or how he does not have a concept of balance between reality itself and contemplation over
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examples of tragic heroes throughout the wide world of literature but one of the greatest examples would be Okonkwo‚ the protagonist of Chinua Achebe’s classic novel‚ Things Fall Apart. A tragic hero would best be defined as a literary character that makes a mistake in judgment or has a fatal flaw that‚ combined with fate and external forces‚ brings suffering and defeat upon himself. There are multiple character traits that a tragic hero possesses. Some of those traits are that the hero is in a position
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The degree to which Okonkwo fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is greatly true. The reason for this belief includes Okonkwo being a person of noble or high status who has a mixture of good and bad in his personality. He has a fatal flaw‚ or hamartia‚ which leads to his downfall and his downfall‚ is often preceded by self-realization. He has a large capacity for suffering. In the end‚ the flaw that leads to Okonkwo’s downfall is his pride. For example‚ Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna
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